You've Never Had a Friend Like Me
by algie888
Summary: Luna Lovegood's got a new best friend. They call him the Clown Prince, they call him Crazy, they call him the Joker.


A/N: Hello, all. Sorry I've been neglecting other fics lately. NaNoWriMo is evil, so updates will be few and far between until January.

I have to send a huge shout out to **DreamRabbit**, who is the greatest Beta reader in the entire Universe. You have my undying love for this. He improved this a bazillion-fold, and any mistakes that linger are undoubtedly mine. Thank you, **DreamRabbit**!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Young Justice, or Harry Potter.

Though, if I did, they'd both be a lot longer.

* * *

><p>The smoke floated lazily around the buildings, the moon barely filtering through the wall of fog. On the street to the left, a couple are watching a news channel, fearing for their son's life. On the street to the right, a woman leans over her husband, the glint of a knife and a scream in the dark. This is Gotham.<p>

The brakes screamed as the driver slammed down the pedal, panicky sweat beading at his forehead. Luna calmly adjusted her spectrespecs; the bus lurching to a stop had knocked them askew. She was in Gotham researching for her husband's next book 'Beasts of American Isles'. The beast she was currently searching for was the Horspalt, which meant Moon Frog in Old Wizard, a creature that didn't actually look like a frog or the moon. It had nothing to do with the moon, actually. It was called the Horspalt simply because it ate Nargles, which glowed like a full moon, but only if you were ginger. That was the reason Luna was wearing her spectrespecs: Horspalts ate Nargles, so if she found a large group of Nargles, she's find a Horspalt. Nargles were attracted to large populations of Muggles who were practically polluted in fear, so Gotham City would be the perfect place.

Luna heard the soft click of rubber on plastic. Someone was getting on the bus. The bus had been deserted for the past seven minutes because the last five people had gotten off two stops earlier at a row of shops for some last minute Halloween decorations. Americans did like their Halloween. Luna wondered whether they knew it was pagan.  
>Luna heard the walker approach her seat, and then saw that the little moonlight that she had to write with had been blocked out.<p>

"May I sit here?"

Luna looked up, and saw the man in front of her. Luna couldn't see him properly because of her multi coloured glasses, so she tugged the rim down with her finger to see who he was.

The man had green hair that had been cropped short, and a lingering goblin smile that seemed humourless and uniform. His skin was paler than even Luna's, and his suit was a bright purple. He stood out like a Thestral in a room full of unicorns.

Luna nodded, and he grinned at her, showing his yellowing teeth. He pivoted on his heel and then fell back onto the chair, grinning as dust shot up in a cloud when he landed. There was an awkward silence.

"So," Luna began, "I see that you've met a Cortlan."

He turned to her, his eyebrows raised, "A what?" He asked, his tone half amused, half deadly.

"A Cortland. They have the ability to change the colour of you body with a single bite." She said, and then looked back down at her sheet to reread the note about a Horspalt's feeding habits, trying not to glance at him uncertainly out of the corner of her eye.

The man stared at her, one eyebrow raised. Luna turned her face to look at him, expecting another mocking comment that she had grown used to over the years. He leaned his head back, and hooted with laughter. He slapped his thigh with one hand and then gripped his stomach with the other. "I like you, kid. You're funny."

Luna smiled slightly, unsure whether his reaction was a good one or a bad one.

There was another pregnant pause.

"So, kiddo, what's with those glasses? They all the rage lately? I do like keeping up." He laughed again. Luna couldn't see what was so funny.

"No. These are spectrespecs. They help me see the Nargles." She said, pushing them further up the bridge of her nose.

"Nargles, eh? What might they be?" He asked, leaning forwards like he was genuinely interested.

"They're an air relative of a plimpy. Nargles fly into your brain and make it go fuzzy. They like to steal things, too." Luna said. She had said this so many times before.

The man nodded, "Where're you from, kid? You don't sound like a local." Luna was surprised. He didn't seem to think that she was weird. That was a nice feeling.

Luna shrugged, "I'm from Ireland." She said, shrugging slightly. "My name is Luna, by the way."

"Ireland. My, you're a long way from home, aren't you?" He said, quietly.

"I've been in America for the past month now, but I still haven't seen a Horspalt." She said, her shoulders sagging. Her sons would be so disappointed. Luna had promised Lorcan that he could keep the Horspalt as a pet.

"A what?" The man asked, raising his eyebrows yet again.

Luna wasn't afraid of using magical terms in front of him. No one ever believed her, anyway. And he seemed quite nice, seeing how he hadn't made fun of her. She liked him.

"A horcspalt. It's one of the rarest creatures on the planet, only found in America. It eats the nargles, and then makes a venom more powerful than doxy droppings." Luna said, pure glee in her usually emotionless voice. She loved what she did.

"Interesting." He said. The man scratched his chin, a caricature of thinking. "Say, Luna. How potent is a horcspalt venom?"

Luna shrugged, "The venom is known to kill a victim by making them laugh. That must be a nice way to die." She said absently.

He nodded in agreement, smirking slightly. Silence fell once again.

"Have you heard about the criminals that we Gothamites have?" He asked, looking at Luna.

Luna shook her head, "The only paper I read is the Quibbler, and that doesn't deal in Muggle affairs."

He blinked, and then shrugged off the odd word choice. "Well, we have a few choice criminals here in Gotham. We have Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and of course, the Joker." He smiled, showing his yellow teeth.

Luna smiled unsurely. She knew her friends were often confused by her odd words, or her unsettling tone, and she suddenly knew how they felt. The atmosphere was eerily silent, and Luna nodded at him to continue.

"The thing that scares everyone, the creepy thing about the Joker is his smile. It's just so freaky. Or maybe it's his laugh. He laughs in the shadows, scaring people witless." The man cackled again, and Luna had to repress a shiver.

"What scares you, Luna?" He asked, giggling slightly. He leaned forwards, pressing her for an answer.

Luna fell silent. She had stared down Death Eaters in the War, faced Acromantulas and fought in the Department of Mysteries. What would scare her?

"Losing my friends." She said, her voice brutally honest.

The man nodded, "Loneliness. It can drive people mad. I should know." He laughed again, and Luna turned to look at him, flinching as he cackled. Brave Luna, strong Luna, unflinching Luna. This unsettled her, the man's ability to relate to her, like the best friend that she'd never had. She just couldn't help but agree with him. Her friends meant everything to her, and she'd lay down her life for them - she had in the past. Luna felt a sudden pang of homesickness, something that she never had before on her travels. She missed them.

The bus lurched forwards again, throwing her off of her seat. She landed on the floor, her black bag cushioning her fall.

The man hooted with laughter, "That's why I always wear a seatbelt! You know what they say, 'Safety First'!"

Luna beamed at him, and skipped off of the bus. She saw the driver gulp when she hopped off the last step from the wing mirror.

"See ya, Luna!" The man called from the back seat.

Luna waved goodbye, her hand blurring as she grinned at him, his image in the window receding as the bus hurtled down the road in a way that even Stan Shunpike would be proud of.

**X**

"You went to Gotham?" Hermione asked, staring at her friend. "What in Merlin's name possessed you to go there?"

It was Halloween, and time for the yearly Dumbledore's Army alumni meeting. Luna and Hermione were sitting on the sofa, both cupping warm butterbeers.

"I was searching for the Horcspalt." Luna said.

"Did you meet Batman?" Hermione asked, not in the least bit fazed about a 'Horcspalt'. She had long since accepted Luna's amazing animals.

"No."

Harry quickly sat on the sofa, trying escape some of his fans. The Dumbledore's Army members had raised their kids to believe that Harry was a messiah of a sort. "You were lucky to get out alive. 'Mione told me that the Joker gunned down forty men at Gotham Square." Harry said. "Hi, Luna." He added, flashing a grin at her.

Luna smiled at Harry, "Who's the Joker?"

"You know, the creepy one with the green hair and the big smile?" Hermione said. "How did you go to Gotham and not know who the Joker was?"

"I know him. He sat with me on the bus." Luna said.

"Y- You sat next to the Joker on a bus?" Harry asked incredulously. "Did he hurt you? Wasn't he crazy?"

Luna fixed her friends with a very serious stare.

"He is just as sane as I am."


End file.
